VSGers... I have a question

I have a friend that is just about 4 months out. She is soooooo depressed! How can I help her?

Her start weight was 230 and she is now 198, I think it's great but she does not! She has her follow up coming up and she now tells me that she has decided to diet ( :O ). She told me that her dr gave her crap cuz she had only lost 10lbs at her last follow up instead of the 15lbs he was expecting to see. Now she's freaking out.

I know she follows what she was told and she exercises as much as she can.

Any suggestions??

I know with my VSG, my weight has come off rather slowly.  I have never had big numbers move on the scale.  I am happy with the slowness.  It gives me time to wear my clothes and gives my body time to adjust.  Every body is different and she should just continue doing what she is doing.  Your body is only going to lose what it wants to .  30 pounds is quite good.  She needs to be happy about her accomplishment.  We all have stalls at certain times and should not get discouraged.  I've been at a stall for this past 3-4 weeks and the scale just started to move the other day.  Tell her to ignore her doctor and continue what she is doing.  At four months she definately isn't eating a whole lot to justify a small weight loss.   Her weight will drop when her body decided to drop it.  has she measured herself?  It is possible too that she has lost inches rather than weight.  We've all gone thru that too.

Tell her to keep her chin up she is doing great!!!
Jennifer

Heyy Jennifer :)

I have told her all those things as well.

I saw a recent pic of her and she looks amazing! I think she has lost many more inches then weight. I had mentioned to her at the beginning to measure and I believe that she did do it, I will have to ask to confirm that.

I will keep telling her not worry so much and that she's doing fabulous! :D

Thank you!!

Hi Leanne, well, I haven't had my surgery yet (Jan 8), but I do know that if she is not someone that had a whole lot of weight to lose, it might also be slower...I have no idea how tall she is or if she is a petite/large frame....but, I know at 5'6", if I started at 230, it would sure be slower than if I started at 300....just a thought.

Kerry

she's 5'2" or 5'3"... kind of a petite-ish frame.


Thank you ;)

Suggest the VSG board and ask her to outline what she is eating. I ended up following an eating program from California and have had great success. I let my clinic know what I was doing and they were OK with it.  I measure everything and undereat my sleeve.  This is a philosophy that really works and I would recommend she do some reading on it.  I also do low carb which for me (diabetic and then insulin resistent) has been very helpful.  At 10 months out I am very pleased with my weight loss and yes it is slower if you start out smaller.

She can private message me if she wants or call me.

I will suggest it to her; I know that she doesn't have alot of time to get online but I will work on it.

I know that she eats between 700-1000cals, less then 60g carbs and about 80g protein per day. I try to help her as best I can but sometimes it's hard. We live far apart (she lives in alabama) So, we call and text alot.

I will see if she can call you :) That might work better (I tried to send you a msg but it doesn't give me an option to private message you; would you mind pm-ing me?)

Thank you :)

Yes, I agree, her calorie count is a bit high for only 4 months out.  I was around 400-500, ate less than 20 grams of carbs per day and around 60-90 grams of protein. I did not eat any grains, fruit or veg -that early on - just focused on protein and water .

Not sure what happened to the private message option! 

All really great supportive suggestions

The only thing I would add is for her to tell the DR either be supportive and understanding OR 

I want another Dr..........there are LOTS of other Docs out there (reminds me of Laz Klein down at the 960 Lawrence W office )

She shouldn't be afraid to see her Doc. She's having some trouble and needs support and guidance, not some jerk off making her feel badly




grrrrrrrr

Leanne, I agree she is doing pretty well.  I would suggest lowering her carb intake.  I lost my best between 20-40.  I probably stuck to 6-800 calories until I was about 6 months out, but I don't think I could have eaten more anyway.